Elementary-Single-Component Systems

Elementary single-component systems are those that have just one chemical species or material involved in the process. Filling of a vessel is an example of this kind. The component can be a solid liquid or gas. Regardless of the phase of the component, the time dependence of the process is captured by the same statement of the conservation of mass within a well-defined region of space that we will refer to as the control volume. 

In this chapter we will apply the conservation of mass principle to a number of different kinds of systems. While the systems are different, by the process of analysis they will each be reduced to their most common features and we will find that they are more the same than they are different. When we have completed this chapter, you will understand the concept of a control volume and the conservation of mass, and you will be able to write and solve total material balances for single-component systems. 

---

This is the key unifying principle that we will use throughout this book. It will be all we need in order to analyze and model a wide array of elementary single-component systems and it is the foundation upon which everything else we do with more complex systems will be built. The best way to illustrate how to use this mathematical statement of conservation of mass is through examples. 

---